I Can’t Lie Very Well

Iam the worst liar. I have many flaws, but lying is just not one of them. I just don’t do it well. I remember when I was younger. We lived across the street from my grandpa’s house. He owned and ran the school buses for the schools. He paid my sister and I money to clean the buses. Now you have to understand what that means. Imagine a school bus, where kids have come and gone for weeks, in the dead of winter. Picture this: black banana peels frozen to the floor of the bus, apple cores frozen to the floor of the bus, half eaten sandwiches frozen to the floor of the bus. Everything is frozen to the floor of the bus. We had to use the broom handle more than the actual broom. You had to take the broom handle and wack at the frozen food stuck to the floor. I guess I should be somewhat grateful, the food wasn’t warm and mushy. It was all frozen solid. But it wasn’t just a matter of sweeping everything and then your done. Nope. We had to chip the frozen stuff off the floor. That takes more time. And even if it wasn’t mushy, it was still gross. Not my most fun way to spend an afternoon. I did get paid, but I’m not sure it was worth it.

So one Saturday afternoon I was hanging out in our living room when I see my dad drive up in one of the school buses and park it in front of the house. Uh-oh. I knew what that meant-we have to clean that sucker. Eew. I really didn’t want to face all the grossness. So my sister and I ran to our bedroom and ducked behind a bed. We turned out the lights so it looked like no one was there. We were clever that way. A few minutes later, our bedroom door flings open and my dad is standing there calling for us. We slowly raise our heads up from behind the bed. My dad asks, “What are you doing in here?” Now this is when most people would lie. This is when most people would tell a little white lie like, “Oh, we’re just playing hide and seek.” But no. I don’t operate like that. My conscience swelled in my brain and I blurted out, “We’re hiding in here so we don’t have to clean the buses!” My sister turns and looks at me with this look like I am a complete moron. My dad is furious. He storms out of the house. I feel really bad. Not about telling the truth, but about my dad getting angry. My sister questions me as to why I just verbally vomited all over the place. She said I didn’t have to say anything at all. But no, that’s not me. My punishment for being so verbally honest was spending the afternoon chipping frozen banana peels and apple cores off the floor of the bus. I couldn’t escape it.

The Bible never shies away from the truth. It paints a very graphic picture of flawed man. It’s a picture with warts and all. If the Bible didn’t show us so graphically flawed, we would never see our need for salvation. Jesus Christ died for the lost. He didn’t die for the perfect. The perfect don’t need salvation. He died for the wretched men and women who see their warts and all and long to be cleansed. Isn’t that beautiful?

Living truthfully, for the Christian, is a really good thing. We shouldn’t pretend about things. God wants us transparent. He CAN see through us. He DOES know your every thought. He KNOWS everything about us. There is no hiding with God. Even if you don’t say the truth in your prayers, you haven’t hid anything from God. Like my poor attempt to hide from my dad, God really does know where we are and what we are doing.

In the long run, my unflappable honesty kept me sane…keeps me sane. I’ve tried to lie before and it starts manifesting in my body. My eye will start twitching or the person I’m lying to, I can’t look them in the eye. It’s mentally sound to keep your conscience clear. I’m reading a book by James Attucher called, “Choose Yourself.” He’s not a Christian, but he talks about tips for living better and he comes to the conclusion that being honest is best for our well being. If a non Christian comes to that conclusion, I think we as Christians really need to make sure we lie as seldom as possible. You may look at the bus situation that I faced as punishment, but it wasn’t really. I was going to clean the buses one way or another. I got paid for it and my conscience was clear.